22 Bullets

Luc Besson and Jean Reno take another shot at the French gangster thriller. Retired crime boss Charly (Reno), who has turned his back on the underworld, survives a hit by “professionals” who fire at him 22 times. Like Steven Seagal in Hard to Kill, Reno bides his time before seeking vengeance. Nursing flesh wounds in hospital, he consoles his teary-eyed mum and shoots the shit with detectives.

Once Charly discovers the people behind the plot, however, it’s art house executions all round, with slo-mo slaps and pretty head shots scored to classical music.

It’s unfair to judge a film on previous, though 22 Bullets misses the quirkiness of Leon and ass-kicking, face-smashing energy a la Pierre Morrel’s The Transporter. Director Richard Berry offers a film in limbo; a guilty pleasure shoot-em-up with pretensions to be something more. And even with Besson as producer, 22 Bullets can’t quite find that je ne sais quoi sweet spot. [Alastair Roy]